


I’d never want once from the cherry tree

by back2the_ocean



Series: Heal the Hurt - Season 2 Fix it Fics [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Everyone Needs A Hug, Family Dinners, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Raymond (and Allison) are the focus of this fic, Season 2 spoilers, all the good feels, bbq dinner, hug the hargreeves, i'm giving them metaphorical hugs here, the others are only mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/back2the_ocean/pseuds/back2the_ocean
Summary: post season 2 au - its finally a nice day in the city and the entire family has a BBQ
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves/Jill, Diego Hargreeves/Lila, Klaus Hargreeves/Dave, Raymond Chestnut/Allison Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves/Sissy
Series: Heal the Hurt - Season 2 Fix it Fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860712
Comments: 23
Kudos: 351





	I’d never want once from the cherry tree

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaedweniPine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaedweniPine/gifts).



Raymond paused in the doorway leading outside. He let the chaos of the moment and the family - his family, what a world - roll over him. 

It was the height of the summer months but the heatwave that had been battering the state finally relented and cooler winds, literally, prevailed. 

But the nice weather prompted the disasters happening in the backyard. Sissy and his new mother-in-law Grace had decided that because the weather finally allowed for it, they were going to have a family BBQ.

This wouldn’t have changed anything but his amazing Allison had been doing so well in her court-mandated therapy sessions that her therapist encouraged her to reach out to her ex-husband and ask if he and their daughter Claire would like to visit for a week - meet the family, see the sights.

Raymond was cautiously excited. He had met Claire before, soon after they arrived in 2019, but it was for a very short court-approved and monitored session. This was going to be longer and probably fraught with more tension. 

This time, instead of having a therapist on hand to calm words and guide the meeting, it was only going to be his new siblings-in-law and their respective partners. Of which, only a few were calm beings. 

Most of them brought chaos into his life just by being who they were. Klaus was still quoting what he now knew were song lyrics, still holding onto his cult leader persona, mostly by accident - he usually made a face at himself after he said something particularly cringey. Dave was helping him with that by distracting him.

Diego and Lila were either found in some dark corner, not presentable, or were arguing with each other or with Five, usually about something small like shoes left in the wrong place, but sometimes they’d be arguing about the Commission. Those days usually ended up with weapons being drawn.

Five, when not being distracted by those two, could be seen popping up here and there and when and where. Raymond had decided early on to not worry too much about the kid that wasn’t. It usually went better for his sanity when he wasn’t trying to figure out the time travel nonsense that went hand in hand with the oldest of the siblings. 

A lot of stuff relating to siblings-in-law went that way. He wasn’t too hung up about the powers or even the superhero stuff but he still couldn’t believe he had so many white boys as family.

Only for his marvelous Allison…

But for the most part, he was settled into his new life. He picked up where he left off in the ‘60s, working on bringing actual equality into the country. He and lovely Allison had made the decision to stay in the mansion where she had grown up, not seeing a real reason to buy their own place when it was so big and mostly empty.

He watched as Luther (still the biggest white boy he’d ever seen), Klaus (still the biggest personality he’d ever seen), and Dave (a piece of a more familiar but long distant time) work their way steadily through the huge house, painting it lighter colors, repairing the damage old age and disuse had heaped on the building. 

Diego and Lila were always down to help police events that he was organizing, helping protect those that wanted to protest peacefully, helping get supplies through to where they needed to go, and helping remove those that were there to cause trouble. 

His darling Allison was working extremely hard to get through all of her therapy sessions so she might have a chance to raise her daughter. When not there, she was either helping him in his little office or volunteering elsewhere in the city. 

Klaus and Dave, when not helping Luther, were going to either AA meetings or Veterans meetings. Raymond was still so surprised at how much help was available nowadays to people who needed it. They were also trying to find jobs that they would actually like to do. Apparently none of them ever needed to work again, Reginald having left the entire Hargreeves fortune to them, but the two of them wanting something else in their life but fixing the house and their meetings.

Five was in and out so often, Raymond had a hard time keeping track of him. And when they were in the same vicinity, he had a hard time keeping up with the old young man. He felt better though seeing the glazed eyes of his siblings - at least it wasn’t just him. 

Ben and Jill were steadily working on the garden - it was looking amazing out there, he couldn’t lie. It had only taken them a week to remove the concrete blocking a majority of the yard and the large wall separating the main section from the rest of the yard. Raymond thought that Vanya might have had a little too much fun bringing down the wall but he wasn’t going to say anything to the woman capable of that kind of destruction.

But the garden now looked extremely different. The strange people who apparently worked at the Commission were true to their word when they said they could speed up a tree life cycle. Now there was a giant willow tree dominating the back yard next to a lovely pond. Luther had filled it with koi fish and had taken to caring for the fish along with the 5 cats, 3 dogs, and the large fish tank that now filled the main entry room. 

Vanya had gone back to teaching the violin - her students really loved coming to the mansion with its multitude of rooms available for use. Sissy, after getting Harlan used to their new normal and creating a routine with Grace for the day, had gotten a job at Macy’s. She really seemed to like that work though. Harlan had seemingly adjusted better than all the others combined. 

And now all these people were filling up their backyard. Luther, Diego, and Patrick were manning the grill - the smoke coming from that direction was not particularly promising. He was glad that Grace, Sissy, Dave, and Jill were working on all the non-meat food. Ben and Klaus were supposed to be blowing up some balloons and setting up some games for later - and were instead rolling about on the ground. Claire and Harlan were carefully playing together under the watchful eyes of Vanya and the stunning Allison. Lila and Five were fighting each other but they were setting up tables under the willow tree. Herb and Dot were considered guests and were allowed to just relax - they were sitting in some of the hammocks placed closer to the willow tree than the tables Five and Lila were setting up. Pogo (and wild was that? He married into a family with a chimpanzee uncle? Butler? He wasn’t too sure on the exact relationship) was sitting near them, reading some new book Ben had suggested to him. He was tasked with bringing out the dishes and condiments. 

Raymond had no idea how this had become his life but he didn’t think he’d change it for the world.

Why would he? He had married the best woman in the world, his job was making a visible difference in the world, somehow his family (crazy white people, mostly) were amazing, their home was better than any hope he’d ever had, and Allison had told him earlier today that their family was going to be just a little bit bigger in only a couple of months.

How could he be anything other than deliriously happy?

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me at my tumblr dcksdrgsdebutantes to talk and to see my character moodboards. also I have a tua discord - give me a shout if you'd like to join


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